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MAJOR MEETING IN VIRGINIA TONIGHT TO DEBATE FATE OF THE WILDERNESS WAL-MART

• Public gets say on Wal-Mart near Va battlefield [Daily Press (Va.)]
  Hundreds of historians have had their say on Wal-Mart's plans to build a Supercenter near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia.

• Tonight! Orange County will hear your thoughts on Wal-Mart [Free Lance-Star (Va.)]
  Tonight, the Orange County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed Wilderness Wal-Mart.
  

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Two outlets - Congressional Quarterly and AllGov.com - have picked up on our FEC story from last week - all of which stems from Wal-Mart’s activities last summer, when meetings were held warning store managers and department supervisors around the country that if Democrats won power in last year’s elections, they would likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies—including Wal-Mart.

Basically, Wal-Mart was telling its employees that if they voted Democratic, unionizing would lead to store closings, lost jobs and more bad things:

“The meeting leader said, ‘I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won’t have a vote on whether you want a union,’” said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. “I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote,” she said.

Following a Wall Street Journal piece that relied heavily on sources provided by Wal-Mart Watch, several groups (WMW included) filed complaints with the FEC, asking the commission to look into Wal-Mart’s election activities.

As we reported last week, that complaint ended badly with a deadlocked FEC and an eventual dismissal. Now, however, we can at least begin to piece together how the ruling unfolded (or the lack there of, unless you consider a “stalemate” as indicative of a ruling).

Six commissioners participated in the ruling, with three voting in favor of further investigation, and three against. Could they have voted down party lines, you ask? Surely not? Well, you’d be wrong - three Democrats favored investigating further while the three appointed Republicans said, “Screw it, it’s getting late, we’re heading for happy hour - let’s close the book on this horse.” A 3-3 vote ensued, and just like in baseball the tie went to the runner, with Wal-Mart running away from any official wrongdoing - although we will point out that the Republicans that Wal-Mart was nudging its employees towards didn’t actually win.

An excerpt from the FEC statement against Wal-Mart:

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Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced yesterday that he would not be supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. In actuality his decision will not only affect the bill itself, but it could first and foremost affect the ability of Congress to even vote on it, because without his vote Conservatives could filibuster the poor thing to death.

When legislation like the Free Choice Act is introduced in the Senate - assuming it makes it to the floor - there eventually takes place debate between Senators as to whether the legislation should be passed. This debate can go on indefinitely, most commonly referred to as a filibuster and taking the form of an exceptionally long speech (as in one lasting for a day or days, or a series of such speeches) to prevent the legislation from moving forward...and that, my friends, is where Senator Specter would come in. Sixty votes are needed in the Senate to enact what is called cloture - basically this sets a deadline for debate to end, after which a final vote is made. Senate Democrats currently have enough votes to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, but without Specter, there appears to be only 59 Senators that would vote for cloture - one fewer than needed to end debate and take the legislation to a final vote. Senator Specter announced his decision yesterday on the Senate floor:

The problems of the recession make this a particularly bad time to enact Employees Free Choice legislation. Employers understandably complain that adding a burden would result in further job losses. If efforts are unsuccessful to give Labor sufficient bargaining power through amendments to the NLRA, then I would be willing to reconsider Employees’ Free Choice legislation when the economy returns to normalcy.

Basically, the Senator had big business screaming at him from one shoulder, and labor from the other...and business (and Conservatives) won. Some, however, noted that while he decided not to support the bill this time, he did identify a need to reform labor law as it currently stands.

Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Education and Labor Committee, said, “It’s disappointing that Senator Specter feels he cannot support the Employee Free Choice Act in its current form, but I welcome his recognition of the urgent need for labor law reform...I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find the best way to move forward with this important legislation.”

Republican opposes US labor bill, may doom measure [Reuters]

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The first piece of legislation that President Obama signs could be a major step forward for pro-labor groups. Senate Bill 181, a wage discrimination bill that will reverse a 2007 Supreme Court decision narrowing the time period during which a worker can file a wage discrimination claim, cleared the Senate yesterday and is not expected to have much difficulty passing in the House. That would be because the House passed a nearly identical bill two weeks ago that, for reasons we won’t worry about for the moment, was not considered by the Senate.

The legislation, titled the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, focuses on Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., [550 U.S. 618 (2007)], a Supreme Court decision holding that regardless of when a worker discovers a pay disparity, any legal action needs to be filed within 180 days of the initial decision to pay the worker less. That means if you didn’t discover that you were being screwed within the first 6 months of your employment, you were pretty much up the creek. For Lilly Ledbetter, an employee at Goodyear Tire and Rubber for over 19 years, she didn’t realize she was getting a lower salary and lower pay raises then her male counterparts until after she left the company - and only then because an anonymous note was left in her mailbox. A statute of limitations is not uncommon in the civil law system, but often they begin to toll once the perceived wrong is discovered. Forcing an employee to sue within 180 days of a decision they might not discover for years - if ever - is fairly, well, wrong.

It has been a priority for women’s groups seeking to narrow the wage gap between men and women. “We feel free at last,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the chief sponsor of the legislation. She said the strong vote, which included all 16 female senators — including four Republicans — was “a sign of what Democratic leadership means.”

The AP story points out another point regarding the legislation...that is, the effect it might have on other labor legislation, including the Employee Free Choice Act:

The bill paves the way for considering more controversial labor measures, including one that would take away a company’s right to demand a secret ballot when workers are seeking to organize. (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid said that could come up this summer.

Senate passes wage discrimination bill [Associated Press]

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Starting now, Wal-Mart Watch will be periodically updating you on some of the new comments submitted to our Employee Speak-Out site.  These comments are sent in from visitors to our site who are former or current employees of Wal-Mart and its sister companies, who have been victims of the systematic abuse and discrimination that Wal-Mart is known for inflicting upon its employees.  Remember that if you have a story to tell about working at Wal-Mart, we encourage you to tell us about it - we’ll put it up on the web and let your voice be heard.

As we look forward to the next 4 years, we hope that this website will be among the many tools that Wal-Mart workers use to help change Wal-Mart and their lives for the better.

Workplace stress leads to tragedy for pregnant worker:

“I was a manager in the housewares department. I just got my separation notice from them for not returning to work from my leave of absence. There is a reason I didn’t return; I feel they are responsible for the death of my baby.”

Anonymous on Age-Based Termination:

“Wal Mart is systematically targeting anyone over 40 years of age for firings through systematically assigning the heaviest, most back breaking jobs to that class of people in the facility. Managers are encouraged to pressure senior employees into quitting and firing to ensure that young strong backs are maintained in the facility.”

Anonymous on How Not to Vote

I attended a meeting that was conducted by a market manager. We were not told to not vote for Obama

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While we certainly wouldn’t recommend taking advice from Paris on a regular basis, and we most definitely don’t think you’ll meet your maker if you don’t hit the ballot booth, we’d like to take an opportunity to encourage all of our readers to go out and vote.

You might think we lean towards one candidate over another, and its possible you might be right [Sarah Palin says we have a constitutional right to privacy...interesting coming from her...but we’re going with it!], but regardless of who you support please take the time if you haven’t already to exercise your right and cast your vote for Barack Obama or John McCain. One of them is going to be our President-elect, and you’ll feel better knowing you participated in the process. You can even write me in instead if you’re so inclined - I’ve totally watched every episode of The West Wing, and am waaaayyyy qualified.

Anyway, I’m happy to say I braved the lines in Virginia to vote this morning, which means no death-by-Paris-Hilton for me. And I’ve got the sticker to prove it. So go vote! And remember...Wal-Mart [inserted for relevance purposes only]